We headed to Reading Festival over the bank holiday weekend, check out the 11 best moments from the three days of live music, selected by VIPER‘s founder Lily Mercer…
Backroad Gee’s Mob
Backroad Gee’s performance was insane! With the most powerful energy in the UK rap scene, VIPER knew that his set would be one of the best of the day. I had chills throughout his performance, which is rare when I’m listening to rap. He ended the set with his whole crew mobbing the stage to perform his Pa Salieu collaboration, ‘My Family’. It was a special weekend as we ran into him on Sunday, which happened to be his birthday!
Meekz Wild Set
For many, this was the first opportunity to see Meekz, following a huge career surge during the pandemic. His show did not disappoint, with him running through new tracks like ‘Respect The Come Up’ and the elite ‘Year Of The Real’, which created the maddest mosh pits.
Ghetts’ hat
By the second song, ‘Mozambique’, it became hard to ignore Ghetts’ incredible hat. Meanwhile his knuckleduster microphone added to allure of the performance. We all know he’s a beast on the mic but live he’s out of this world – commanding the crowd with every lyric.
Stormzy’s Outfit
Rocking Corteiz for his headlining set, Stormzy sent out a clear message: the streetwear brand has officially gone clear.
Nando’s every single day!
As the Viper team were at the festival all three days, we spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the Nando’s stage, which had it’s own kitchen built in! With a variety of options, we had Nando’s on all three days and finally got to try the wrap by our February cover star, KSI!
Central Cee’s ‘Bad Habits’ performance
Central Cee’s set was bound to be a madness but things got out of control for his final track. Undoubtedly the first time any of the crowd had seen his collaboration with Ed Sheeran and Tion Wayne live. When ‘Bad Habits’ began, the whole crowd began screaming, cementing Cee as a bonafide star in the scene.
Seeing ‘On Deck’ live
Abra Cadabra was one of my most anticipated sets of the whole weekend – I really LOVE his music! With ‘On Deck’ being undoubtedly the song of last Summer, it was incredible to finally see it live. This was the same for much of the music over the weekend, with so many of these artists blowing up in a pandemic, this was the first time to see so many songs that dominated our lockdown playlists.
Hanging with Kam-Bu
As one of the 1xtra stage performers, we caught Kam-Bu’s set on Sunday and later caught up with him for a quick interview. This was the longest we chilled over the whole weekend, so we had a beer and chatted music.
My Nando’s DJ Set.
As a last minute surprise, Nando’s had me DJ on Sunday night! It was nice to play at the festival and keep the crowd entertained as they awaited their chicken. I haven’t played a festival since 2019 and it felt GOOOOOODDD!
The array of surprise guests.
Morrison as a guest performer with Aitch. Later that day Aitch made a cameo in AJ Tracey’s set. Later on that night Stormzy brought through Tion Wayne, Russ Millions and Dave. The theme continued through the weekend with Tion Wayne surprising us with ArrDee and M24, then M1llionz bringing out Digga D on Sunday for their ‘No Chorus’ track.
The Fancy Dress
Like any festival, many guests dressed up for the occasion. Amongst the crowds, we spotted a unicorn
